Storm batters a few homes, bridges

Thursday

Sep 20, 2012 at 2:00 AM

LIVINGSTON MANOR — Flooding Tuesday along Cattail Creek in the often flooded northern Sullivan County hamlet of Livingston Manor severely damaged two homes, chewed up roads and sidewalks and knocked out three bridges.

Victor Whitman

LIVINGSTON MANOR — Flooding Tuesday along Cattail Creek in the often flooded northern Sullivan County hamlet of Livingston Manor severely damaged two homes, chewed up roads and sidewalks and knocked out three bridges.

The back ends of two homes along Upper Main Street were left hanging over the creek when a torrent of water cut a new channel and ran under a portion of the houses. The flooding consumed about 30 feet of the homes' backyards and swept away half the concrete foundations. Both homes were occupied and will be condemned. There were no reports of injuries.

A 1991 blue Corvette stored in one of the homes' garages was swept downstream. Wednesday morning, the car was discovered upside-down in the creek and submerged but for a rear wheel poking out.

The town bridge was swept away. A nearby private bridge was badly damaged by a tree trunk, and a portion of the county bridge was destroyed and plugged with downed trees.

Elsewhere in the mid-Hudson, the only lasting damage from Tuesday's storm was power outages. At the storm's height, about 14,000 Central Hudson customers lost power. Hardest-hit were 8,900 customers in Ulster County and 4,500 in Orange County.

By Wednesday afternoon, line crews had restored power to all but 4,900 customers. Power should be back in Denning, Neversink, Olive, Woodstock, New Paltz, Marlborough, Montgomery and the City of Newburgh by noon Thursday. The last areas estimated to get power restored are Shawangunk by 2 p.m. and Plattekill by 4 p.m. Thursday.

In Livingston Manor, Rockland Supervisor Ed Weitmann said efforts were focused on reopening the county bridge to Finch Street, where about 10 homes were marooned. A backhoe lifted tree trunks that were uprooted off the banks, swept downstream and jammed around the bridge. He said most of the town's damage appeared to be along Cattail, just beyond the core of Main Street.

Cleo Hayes, whose parents were visiting from Kentucky, was renting and planned to buy the home at 182 Main St. It was newly renovated. She said she had gone to Liberty to get milk when her mother called at 6 p.m. to say firefighters were knocking on the door to evacuate them. Hayes, who will be staying with friends, pointed at a large slab of concrete in the creek.

"That is the back of my house right there," she said.

Jim Krupp, who owns the home, said he watched his neighbor's Corvette splash into the creek and get swept about 500 yards downstream. Krupp said the basements flooded in two of his other properties.

Sharon Egan, who lives behind the library, said her daughter, 29, got trapped on the other side of Main Street, near a school, and was carried through waist-deep water so she could get home safely.

The flood waters receded quickly and didn't appear to do widespread damage. But many were left to clear out muck, gravel and tree limbs.

Reporter James Nani contributed to this report.

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